Thompson, who led the nonprofit from 1999 to 2011, concealed the formation of the Cambridge biotech and misrepresented both his role as a company director and the company’s drug development focus, according to a complaint filed Dec. 19 in US District Court in New York.
“He did a lot of work there,’’ said David C. Burger, a New York lawyer who represents the institute. “Everything he was doing was supposed to be new and different, and he was there for a long time.’’
In a written statement, Thompson denied the suit’s charges. “The allegations in this lawsuit are unfounded and without merit,’’ he said. “It is unfortunate that the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute has chosen to go down this path.’’
Peter J. Macdonald, the lawyer representing Agios, also said the lawsuit’s allegations “are without merit.’’
Thompson was bound by contract to fully disclose all discoveries, intellectual property, and inventions developed as a result of research done at the Abramson Institute, the complaint says.
But Thompson never informed institute or university officials about starting Agios Pharmaceuticals in 2007, the complaint said. Once they learned of its existence, Thompson denied that the new business involved patents and other research belonging to the university and institute, according to the complaint.
It was only after news trickled out in October that Agios had obtained hundreds of millions dollars in investments and a licensing deal with a New Jersey pharmaceutical company that it became clear the company was using the institute’s proprietary research, the complaint says. Celgene Corp. of Summit, N.J., has invested $150 million in Agios and holds a four-year exclusive licensing agreement, the complaint says. It is named as a codefendant in the suit.
Since Agios and Celgene have yet to bring the cancer drugs to market, Burger said, the more than $1 billion the institute seeks in damages is based upon the capital Agios has raised thus far.
Thompson is currently the chief executive of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. He took a leave of absence from Abramson in 2010 to join Sloan-Kettering and stepped down in October.
Agios, Thompson, and Celgene have until February to respond.
